Classic and Contemporary Poetry
THE OLD SHELLBACK, by CICELY FOX SMITH Poet's Biography First Line: By murphy's hotel as I loitered along Last Line: And a crew of hard cases from liverpool town! Subject(s): Harbors; Past | ||||||||
BY Murphy's Hotel as I loitered along I heard an old shellback a-singing his song, A crazy old chorus, a song of no skill, In a voice that was boozy, and broken, and shrill. A roaring old song of the ships and the men In fine days departed which come not again . . . With the chink of the glasses came drifting the tune And the smell of the drinks out o' Murphy's saloon. I stood there to hear it, and swift as I heard My soul like a ship was awakened and stirred, Like a vessel becalmed when she quivers to feel The kiss of the Trade from her truck to her keel. Then fast fled my heart down the seas and the years, And the winds of the world they blew loud in my ears, The winds of the ocean recalling to me Lost things and lovely, like dawns on the sea. Lips that have smiled on me . . . friends who are fled . . . All that was Life in the time that is sped . . . Laughter of long ago . . . frolics gone by In the ports of the West where the windjammers lie. Nights off the Horn, and the ice on our spars. . . Tall skysail clippers a-raking the spars . . . With a "blow the man up, bullies, blow the man down" . . . And a crew of hard cases from Liverpool town! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...FERGUS FALLING by GALWAY KINNELL A TIME PAST by DENISE LEVERTOV LAST THINGS by WILLIAM MEREDITH CHRISTMAS TREE by JOHN FREDERICK NIMS THIS MORNING, GOD by LAURE-ANNE BOSSELAAR A CHANNEL RHYME by CICELY FOX SMITH |
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